Hearts head coach Ian Cathro insists his new look squad is giving him headaches – but he could not be happier.

Cathro is not short of first team options after adding nine new fresh faces during the January transfer window, meaning he will have a pool of around 23 players to choose from ahead of Sunday’s William Hill Scottish Cup visit of city rivals Hibs.

Midfielder Arnaud Djoum’s availability after winning the Africa Cup of Nations with Cameroon at the weekend is another boost for the former Newcastle United and Valencia number two.

Hearts go into the tie on a high following convinving back-to-back wins over Rangers and Motherwell and Cathro is thrilled with the talent he has at his disposal.

He said: “It’s good, give me a headache over good players.

“It’s brilliant and I’m really pleased with it because it’s what we want.

“We want options, we want competition, we want to be better.

“We’ve all got to fight it out. Part of that involves me stepping up, pushing everybody and making the right decisions.

“Sometimes I’ll make the wrong ones and we’ll get on with that as well.

“That’s what we want. We want to push, fight, improve and we need options, good players, competition and stress. You need more than 11 players.”